News and Analysis
SOCi Acquires Brandify, Melding Location Marketing Strengths
Brandify has been acquired by SOCi, a fast-growing market leader in location and social media management for enterprise brands. Brandify and SOCi will combine their technologies and expertise under the SOCi name to serve more than 700 major national and international brands, accounting for over 3 million total store and office locations worldwide. The acquisition includes Street Fight, which will continue to operate as an editorially independent media outlet.
Beyond the Checkout: Using Data to Create Autonomous Retail Experiences
The autonomous retail sector is booming, and brick-and-mortars are getting curious about how to free up their employees’ time and foster new experiences to lure customers in store.
Survey: Retail Loyalty Strengthened Among Millennials Post-Pandemic
Brand loyalty is changing, and it might not necessarily be for the worst. Despite dire predictions earlier in the pandemic that consumers would be more likely to opt for alternative brands, a new survey by the location intelligence firm Ubimo paints a very different picture.
Commentary
The Inside Story on the GMB App Rebuild
Damian Rollison: Google’s Curtis Galloway, software engineering manager from the Google My Business app team, offered a fascinating peek into that team’s development process this week in a presentation at LSA19 in Dana Point, California. Galloway’s presentation revealed aspects of Google’s user-oriented focus when revising the app as well as its customer-centric orientation.
LBMA Vidcast: LG Builds Amazon Dash into All Appliances, Tide Launches 24/7 Delivery
On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: 180byTwo’s eCHO, Outdoorsy the AirBnB for RVs, Outer, Tide launches 24/7 laundry service, LG builds Amazon Dash into all appliances, Baidu builds AI cat shelters. New research from Blis.
AR in Local Commerce: Google Shows the Way
Mike Boland: A recent and relatively understated development from Google could portend the future of augmented reality. Its previously teased “VPS” was released into the wild for a small set of users. For those unfamiliar, VPS (visual positioning service) guides users with 3D overlays on upheld smartphone screens. Sort of a cousin of AR, this type of experience could represent the sector’s eventual killer apps. Though we’ve seen the most AR success so far in gaming (Pokemon Go) and social (Snapchat AR lenses), it could be more mundane utilities like navigation that engender high-frequency use cases.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Uber Loses London License, Facebook Upgrades Mobile Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Loses Its License to Operate in London… Facebook Will Introduce Canvas Templates for Its Collection Ads, Aiming to Boost Brands… Google and Its Partners Will Issue Refunds to Advertisers over Fake Traffic…
Facebook on Local News Partnerships: ‘We’re Just Getting Started’
The “Facebook Journalism Project” was launched recently to meet the “needs” of a news industry concerned about all the free editorial content being made available to the giant distribution platform. In this Q & A, Josh Mabry, manager of Facebook’s local news partnerships, details what FB is doing and plans to do for community news.
At Mobile Innovation Summit a Focus on Customer Experience and Paths to Purchase
Total digital commerce has more than doubled in the last five years, it shows no signs of stopping, and brands must address customer experience on mobile if they intend to grow in coming years. That was one takeaway from the Mobile Innovation Summit event in Denver this week.
Street Fight Daily: Duopoly’s Strength Exceeds Expectations, Pubs Struggle with Apple News
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google and Facebook Tighten Grip on US Digital Ad Market… Publishers Continue to Encounter Problems with Apple New… Alphabet’s Waymo Wants Uber to Pay $2.6 Billion for Single Stolen Trade Secret…
How Showroom Concept Stores Are Changing the Retail Industry
A number of major retailers and startups have been pioneering a local showrooming strategy, divorcing the purchasing of products from the distribution, and focusing more on experiences than in-person sales. Here are six examples of retailers that have been able to navigate this merchandise-free (or light) approach to local retail.
Sophistication, Efficiency, Control: Unlocking the Future of Programmatic Direct for App Publishers and Advertisers
As it splits the difference between real-time bidding and totally manual ad-buy systems, programmatic direct allows publishers and advertisers to create specific agreements around how the process will work. It guarantees protected inventory and premium placements without requiring much in the way of hands-on operation.
Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Empowers Brands, Uber Sues an Agency
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Can Now Tap Pinterest’s Pin Collective Via a Self-Serve Customer Platform (AdWeek) Pinterest formed Pin Collective last October as a way to give brands access to the social network’s best content creators—publishers, production shops and individuals—to work directly with them on their campaigns. How […]
‘Mobile Marketplace’ from Button and Ibotta Adds 30 New Brands
Ibotta and Button today launched a performance-based marketing platform that improves customer acquisition and mobile traffic. The new marketing platform extends the benefits that come with Ibotta rewards to fast-track the mobile commerce efforts of traditional retailers.
How AI Bots, Voice Assistants Are Changing Shopper Behaviors
Rapid changes in the way people communicate aren’t just impacting personal relationships, they’re also hitting the retail market as consumer preferences evolve. In a new report released just this morning, the post-purchase solutions provider Narvar uncovers generational differences in how consumers prefer interacting with retailers.
Street Fight Daily: Google Appeases Antitrust Regulators on Shopping, Brands Turn to Influencers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Offers to Treat Shopping Rivals Equally Via Auction… Why More Brands Are Adding Young Influencers to Their Creative and Marketing Teams… The Luxe Lab at Neiman Marcus Signals a Shift in Focus for Department Stores…
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature